Locked Together
by The-Fighter-In-Me-42
Summary: Angel decides to get Max and Fang together, but how she and Nudge do it is...uncommon...read to find out how Max's love story unfolds. (Much Fax and some Eggy.)
1. Handcuffed?

**Me: YAY! NEW STORY! My first story is OFFICIALLY over, but thanks to _supersexyghotmew95_ AND _Wolf and MR Lover_, I have decided to do a SEQUEL!**

**Max: ...why am I in it?**

**Me: YOU'RE THE MAIN CHARACTER! YOU HAVE TO BE!**

**Angel: Come ON, Max! Say "yay".**

**Max: No.**

**Me: Fang'll do it! You too!**

**Max: Really? No he won't.**

**Fang: Yay.**

**Me, Angel, Max: ...**

***back away SLOOOOWLY***

**Fang: What? That was Gazzy!**

**Gazzy: *grins***

**Me: I know that it will be hard to match my previous story's awesomeness, BUT I WILL DO MY BEST! NOW ON TO THE READING!**

* * *

Max POV

Now that Iggy and Ella are all mushy and totally engrossed in each other, I have some free time. Ha! I got you! With my Flock, there's NEVER free time! Ha! And you thought I was relaxed! Never! Anyway, I was lounging on the couch-all new and shiny (for those who have read our previous adventures in Blind For a Day) watching a totally kick-butt movie. It was way better than a chick flick. Then Nudge came up to me.

"Max! We're going to the mall." Oh great. Again?

"No, Nudge, we're not." I am WAY too tired for this.

"But MAAAAAX! PLEEEEASE!" UGH. Kids and their mall shopping...

"PLEEEEEEEEEEAAAAASEEEEEE!"

And I snapped.

"FINE!" This was SOOO going to be torture. "Be ready to go in five minutes."

* * *

Nudge POV

YES! Angel gave me the idea to get Max to take us to the mall. AND IT WORKED! So our plan is to play a little game of "hide 'n' seek". So us youngsters handcuff Max and Fang together then we scatter and leave Max and Fang alooone and they have to find the one who has a the key! OHHHH! Angel is SUCH a genius. Maybe they'll realize that they LOOOVE each other. I mean, everyone else already knows! Oh! This is so exciting!

* * *

Angel POV

Yup. Max and Fang's turn to have a taste of my super awesome matchmaker abilities. I FINALLY got Iggy and Ella together, but Max continues to be stubborn. She only needs to bat her eyes a little bit and Fang would be HERS! But why can't she see that she loves him? I hear it all the time coming from her mind, but she never admits it! Why are older kids SO difficult?

* * *

Iggy POV

Ella. I love the sound of her name rolling off my tongue, the feel of her hand in mine as we take a walk in the park, or down by the beach, or to the backyard...you get where this is going. Heaven is here on Earth people. It's called love.

_You're disgusting, Iggy, you know that?_

_And hello to you too, Angel._

_We're going to the mall. _

_Nooo! Angel, how COULD you?_

_Come ON Iggy, it's not THAT bad._

_How would YOU know? You're a girl! You LIKE that crap!_

_I'll give you twenty bucks to hang out in the video game section with Gazzy. Ella can come too._

_I'm in._

And that is how I was convinced to go to the mall.

* * *

Fang POV

The mall? Why THAT, of ALL places? Whatever. I'll just go hang by the food court. That's what I thought. Good plan, right? Not. You see, Nudge had decided otherwise. It went like this:

We all scrambled into the car, hoping against all hope not to get the seat next to Gazzy. Even five minutes within close range of him, in a small, enclosed area was

dangerous to one's health. Why are we not flying, being the mutant bird-kids that we are? Well, there's a very simple explanation to that: Ella, the non-mutant not-

so-bird kid, was coming with us. Iggy and Ella have been inseparable since they got together. So this is what love is. I was driving since I'm so much better at it than

Max is. Max dove into the passenger seat. Iggy and Ella- of course -sat next to each other in the middle seat of our SUV, and poor Nudge and Angel had to sit in the

back with Gazzy in the middle. I felt so sorry for them. That didn't last long. When we got to the mall, I parked far from the door and started to turn off the car when

Nudge said, "Wait! Can we finish this song? Please?" I sighed and dropped my hand to show them that I would wait. As the song played through, Nudge and Ella sang

with it. Then they handcuffed me. While I wasn't paying attention, Ella had gotten a pair of handcuffs and closed them around my wrist. I looked down to see my right wrist handcuff to Max's left hand. I lifted my arm and Max's came up too. She tried to pull it down, and nearly yanked my arm off.

"Hey!" I protested.

"Kids!" she yelled. "Come back here and take this off!" They'd run off to escape Max's wrath.

_You guys have to find the key. We'll hide it somewhere in town, but you have to find it._

I could hear her gloating, and from the look on Max's face, she heard it too. The entire town? It could take months!

_That's the point. _Angel can be a little demon sometimes.

_Why, thank you!_

They all gathered around the SUV after about an hour. An HOUR of awkward moments with Max after trying, and failing, to break the handcuffs. That had made Max angry. So we took them home. Nudge was disappointed about not going into the mall.

"Darn," she said, "We shoulda waited until AFTER shopping!" Ha. Very funny. The ride home was uncomfortable. Try driving with a very angry, VERY ticked off Max handcuffed to you. It's not fun. Not funny either. Well, maybe a little funny.

* * *

Angel POV

Handcuffed? Check.

Love? Soon. I'll make sure of it. Max is going to be SO uncomfortable throughout all of this. But it'll all be worth it in the end. Even Max will agree with that.

* * *

**YAY! DONE! REVIEW! CHAPTER 2 WILL BE UPDATED SOON! I hope...**


	2. Um AWKWARD MUCH!

**Me: CHAPTER 2! DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUN! (I don not own Maximum Ride. Only the plot. Thank goodness. She would be hard to live with, even if it would be awesome.)**

**Iggy: Um... Dramatic much?**

**Angel: Yes. She is.**

**Fang: ...**

**Me: ...**

**Max: ...awkward...**

**Me: SOMEONE SAY SOMETHING! I HATE AWKWARD SILENCES! **

**Angel: Um... Something?**

**Me: UGH! HOPELESS! THERE WILL BE FAX IN THIS. AGAIN, MAINLY INSIDE FANG'S HEAD.**

**Fang: Why do you make me out to be such a pervert?**

**Me: Becaaause your in looooo-mrph.**

**Fang: Shut it. Now on to the reading.**

**Max: What?**

**Me: MROUH ONH TU SHA MRANING! (NOW ON TO THE READING!) **

* * *

Max POV

This handcuff is really starting to make my wrist hurt. I can't DO anything! Nudge is SO DEAD. We were watching a really cool crime T.V. show, but then Fang decided that it was time to go check his blog. STUPID BLOG! The only problem was that he forgot that I was ATTATCHED TO HIM. He got up so quickly that I was yanked by his arm onto the floor. Of course with MY luck, I jarred my wrist in the process. I can't exactly function with only one arm, let alone one arm and an arm attached to a really stubborn Avian-American. I'd like to say that I kept it cool, but in all reality, I yelled, "OW!"

"Oops. Sorry, Max." He DID look sorry, but I was in no mood to be forgiving.

"I'll forgive you if you find a way to remove the handcuff," I said, trying to smile sweetly as I lifted our joined hands for emphasis. I probably looked like the Joker.

He sat down again, more graceful than I could EVER be. It was around 1:00 a.m. and I had NO idea how we were going to sleep. This was going to be SO awkward. UGH! I don't suppose Nudge or Angel thought of THIS situation! Actually, now that I think about it, they probably did. Sighing loudly, I turned off the T.V. and got up. I marched down then hallway towards my bedroom, literally dragging Fang along with me.

"Hey!" he protested. "What makes you think that we're going to YOUR room?"

I gave him my best glare. That shut him up real fast. He knew that I wasn't going to let him win this time. I didn't give a chance to get up, I grabbed his handcuffed wrist with my handcuffed hand. It twisted my arm at a weird angle, but I towed him up the stairs anyway. He thumped against the stairs like a rag doll. Boy-Avian-Hybrid version. Wow. Image of that is in my head now...pffft... THAT WOULD MAKE AN AMAZING HORROR MOVIE! Curse of the killer bird-kid doll? What a ridiculously long name! Now I was laughing out loud. I'm pretty sure that Fang thought I was a demented weirdo.

Then we entered my room, which starts as a nice royal blue but fades out into a green-tinged blue until finally becoming a sea foam green, then back again. It's like a circle of colors. (This is my mom's house by the way. We stay here whenever we aren't on the run. She's away on vet business. You know, all those animal to heal, and so little time.) My furniture was a nice, dark, sleek brown. I know the combination sounds weird, but it works well. Then a new thought struck me like lightning. First: Ouch. Wouldn't that hurt?

Then: How was I going to change into my pajamas?

I looked at Fang. I wasn't going to sleep in my clothes. It's not like we were on the run and I had no choice but to sleep in them. He glanced sideways back at me.

"I don't mind sleeping in my clothes," is what he said. Well, I did. Being my stubborn self and all. I sure as hell wasn't going to let him win this one.

So this is what I did:

_I took the pair of scissors in my hand and hesitated._

_"You sure you want to do this? Fang asked. That decided it. I wasn't going to wimp out. So I took the pair of scissors to the sleeve of my shirt. I had to get out of this one before getting into the next one, right? I wasn't going to be all wimpy about cutting up a shirt. After all, it's only a shirt. What did you think I was going to do? Cut off my hand? To save a shirt? No way! _

_"And no peeking!" I said to Fang as I had started to cut and he hadn't turned around yet. I knew that it would be awkward, but he wasn't going to see me in my bra. Luckily, our feet weren't handcuffed (feetcuffed?) so I didn't need to cut my pants off too. That would be a nightmare. Not to mention near impossible to do with the pants as I was about to do with a tank top. But I forgot one thing. The vanity mirror that I never used was on the side of the room that Fang was facing, with his arm twisted behind his back. He could see everything. I however, didn't realize this until later. Too late, really. Like, the-next-day late._

_ With my shirt now off, torn up, and pretty damn useless, I cut the sleeves of the black tank top that I'd gotten from my drawer at the very top. I put my legs through the hole where my head would go, and one-handed, I shimmied it up my body. It was hard to be honest. I tried to tie the sleeves into little knots at the shoulder, but that was all but impossible to do with one hand. I got my wings through their respective holes. Then, pulling the tank top up to fully cover anything that I didn't exactly want him to see, you know, keeping it PG here, then asked him to turn around to help me. Wordlessly, he faced my direction and somehow, after several long moments of frustration (from me), cussing (also from me), and fumbling fingers (again: from me), we managed to get it done. _

_I had him turn around again as I changed into my comfortable forest green shorts. Not too short of course. But not quite pants either. Then it was time to sort out where we sleep._

I laid on my stomach on top of my bed. Fang had somehow convinced me that he would sleep on the floor. I was near the left side of my Navy blue comforter with my arm out. It bent down over the bed at the elbow. My wings draped over me like a blanket. Fang had laid down on his left side, wings out across the floor wherever he had room to spread out. His right arm was hanging by the handcuff attached to my wrist. I listened to the steady breathing of my best friend-we may argue, but always has and always will be my closest friend. Handcuffs or no hand cuffs-as I drifted off. I don't exactly remember falling asleep... but I must have fallen asleep eventually to be woken up like I was.

I was yanked to the floor. While adjusting his sleeping position, Fang had accidentally pulled down on his right arm, pulling me over the edge. I thudded down next to him. He startled awake and bolted upright, again, bringing me along with him. I groaned.

"Fang! You pulled me down, and I was sleeping!" Closing my eyes, I flopped down to the floor. I groaned again. I was so not a morning person.

"Sorry," he said. Standing up, this time having the decency to help me up instead of pulling me along, he stretched. I have to give him credit, he didn't almost yank my arm off this time, That sleeping arrangement wasn't going to work for another night. We had to find the key!

"We'll find it eventually," he told me, after reading the expression on my face. He knew me so well. It annoyed me sometimes. It was endearing at others. I guess now was one of the endearing times. My face softened as I looked up at him, and I felt a smile tugging at my lips. Not my usual sarcastic smile, but a sweeter smile that I could feel came from somewhere deeper. It freaked me out a little.

"I know." And I did. I knew that Fang would do what he had to do to find the key for me. We wouldn't be locked together forever.

I had to go through the same ritual of getting dressed that I had last night. If this goes on for much longer, I won't have any tank tops left. I untied the tank top and replaced it with a different on. This one was light gray with a colorful butterfly. I'm not really into butterflies, but I'd decided to make an exception. I had pulled up my dark blue jeans and was buttoning them when I glanced behind me. What I saw made me blush from my neck all the way to the top of my head. I realized that I was in full view of the mirror. And Fang was starring right into that mirror. At me. He noticed how I saw him watching me. And he blushed even more red than I did. If that was possible. He turned away, looking actually embarrassed.

"W-what the hell was that about?" I sputtered.

"Well..."

"Well, what?"

"Breakfast!" we heard Iggy yell. I was going to continue with conversation.

"Tell me." Ignoring Iggy, I stared at him intently. The uncertainty in his eyes was replaced with a determination I'd rarely seen.

"I'll tell you later," he said as the steel lining left his eyes. There was something he wasn't telling me. But I let it go. I was hungry, after all!

As we walked down the stairs, we had to edge along sideways so that we wouldn't knock anything over. Glass, for instance. Mom would NOT appreciate a shattered vase. Or handcuffed kids. But I guess that when the Mom's away, the kids play. And handcuff each other. Oh, well. Mmmm. I can smell the bacon...

* * *

Fang POV

I cannot believe that I almost kissed Max. What was I thinking? Well, I was probably thinking even less when I watched Max get dressed... I am such an idiot. She caught me. And now she wants an explanation. Why is love so difficult? I'm sure now that love is what was happening to me. But how do I tell her?

* * *

Max POV

Iggy is officially my favorite right now. Well, I say that at every meal, but seriously. It is delicious. Bacon perfectly crispy, scrambled eggs, and warm, fluffy pancakes with creamy peanut butter and maple syrup. Seriously. Peanut butter and syrup on a pancake is heaven during breakfast. No lie. Try it sometime and you will become a believer. As we all sat around the simple oak table in the cream colored dinning room and stuffed our faces, I reached for the pancakes on one side of the table while Fang reached for the syrup on the other side. Both of us used the hand that was attached to the others'. Our hands jerked as we tried to separate them and it left red marks on my wrist. This was no plastic play toy, it was a full-on metal lock and key type of handcuff. I haven't learned how to pick locks yet, but after this I sure as hell will. I just hope the kids didn't steal it from a cop. My eye caught Fang's and I blushed as I remembered what had happened earlier that morning. These next few days are sure to be torture.

* * *

**Me: Hope you liked it! **

**Max: This is so awkward**

**Me: Bye-Bye! (for now! I'll update soon! )**


	3. Trash Fight!

**Me: This is such a fun story to write! **

**Max: I don't see how writing a story of my uncomfortable life is fun.**

**Angel: That's because you're the one who feels uncomfortable. To everyone else, it's funny.**

**Fang: ...**

**Me: DON'T BLUSH, MAX! **

**Max: you don't know what you're talking about.**

**Nudge: How come we haven't shown up lately?**

**Gazzy: Yeah!**

**Me: Sorry about that. I'll try to do better... NOW ON TO THE READING! R&R!**

* * *

Max POV

Now, how do we find the key? A systematical search of the entire city would take somewhere between forever and a lifetime. No kidding. I'm not about to tell you where I live. It could compromise our position. Call me paranoid, but I'm not going to take any chances. Not when it comes to my family. Let's just say, it's a fairly large city, with so many hide-a-way places that someone could hide an army, and no one would know. Just saying. I could grow old and die, and still be attached to Fang.

We sat on our midnight blue sofa, it's softness surrounding me like a cloud. But a little less damp. Trust me, I've felt a cloud before. We spread a map of the city onto the sleek black coffee table. I stared at it in desperation.

"This is hopeless," I said. "The entire city..."

"I know how we can narrow it down," Fang offered. I stared at him blankly. He tilted his head slightly in my direction. His hair, darker than black if that was even possible, swept into his face as he glanced at me. Fang smiled ever so slightly as his eyes focused on mine. I felt heat rush to my face as I remembered that morning.

_Get back on topic, Max. You'll never get anything done if you blush whenever Fang looks at you. _Angel said. Mentally, of course.

_I can't, _I (mentally) wailed, _I keep wondering WHY!_

_Well, I could tell you what he was thinking, but I don't understand some of it, and it would probably make you blush even more, _was her reply.

I would be staring at her open-mouthed right then if she wasn't, you know, speaking to me mind-to-mind. I jerked to reality. Fang was snapping his fingers in my face. I blinked at him, wide eyed. Apparently, he'd been trying to get my attention for a while.

"What?" I asked.

He smirked at me. My heart gave a little flutter. What the heck is wrong with me?

"Well if you don't want to hear it..." he began.

"Hear what?" Then I realized what he'd said earlier. I cursed silently as I smacked myself on the forehead. "Right. So what was your idea?"

He grinned, a slow, devious grin. "I thought that you didn't want to hear it," he teased. Again, the flutters appeared. This was starting to annoy me. But this time, there was something else. A pain, deep inside my chest ached. It wasn't like an Eraser breaking my arm in three places. It was a duller, deeper kind of pain; less sharp and centered, but even more painful somehow. Like my chest was contracting, and my heart was caving in.

I couldn't bear the pain much long so I burst out, "Well, don't keep me in suspense!" Nice save, huh?

"They were only gone an hour. Thirty minutes out and thirty back, not to mention the time it takes to hide a key. That limits the distance that they could have gone."

He stuck a thumbtack in the mall parking lot, where this all started. Fang's forehead wrinkled a little, and his face had a very serious, concentrating look. It was kind of cute. Wait. Cute? Why am I all of a sudden thinking like this? Focus, Max. Focus.

"Assuming that none of them recently developed the ability to fly at super-sonic speed like you can, I've limited it to this area." He circled a large part of the map. "I know that it's big, but we've faced bigger."

I know that it didn't help much. Barely at all to be honest. But he'd tried. And I loved him for it. Um, not in the way that it might have sounded right there. But in all seriousness, we had to start looking.

"Do you want to work from farther out then go in, or start at the mall and go from there?" I asked. My heart was still having spasms.

"Let's start from the mall," he replied.

...

I sat down, leaning against the alley wall. Sighing, I closed my eyes. We've been at this for over seven hours, and nothing. The shadows seemed to jump out at me in the darkness of the alley, and it was starting to creep me out a little. It seemed like every rat that scurries by was an Eraser jumping out at me, and every spider brushing against my cheek sent a shiver down my spine. I'm not squeamish about this stuff, but such a long time without an attack sent up a red flag on my radar. Sitting down was a bad idea. Now my butt's wet from the dampness of the earlier rain. A few stray clouds scattered around the sunset. Not that I could see it since we started looking in the alley. But now the moon was up, a bright half moon that lit up the area, allowing our search to continue. It's surprising how long it takes to search an alley. But there's the dumpsters, full of the most disgusting stuff anyone could think of.

Dead skunks for example.

I wasn't getting in that. So I pushed Fang in. Well, it was more like I flipped him in. I grabbed his left arm with both hands and flipped him over my shoulder into the trash. Ah, the look on his face. Priceless. So I stood there awkwardly with my arm hanging in the dumpster as Fang looked around.

Then a shadow moved behind me. I spun around, or spun as make as I could, and saw nothing. Weird. I turn back the other way and came face to face with some guy. He looked about sixteen, was Caucasian with bright blue eyes, and was obviously drunk. His stained white t-shirt smelled suspiciously like sewer mixed with the dumpster behind me, and his basketball shorts were even worse. He wore a blue bandanna around his head, and his eyes kept roaming up and down my body, which gave me a really bad feeling, mixed with desire to kick his ass. Problem? One arm was in a dumpster. Worse problem? I saw the glint of a knife at his side.

He smiled. Most of his teeth were yellow and rotting. The rest were missing. It was almost worse than the dumpster. He pulled out the knife with one hand.

"Now play nice, sweetheart. It'll be over soon. We'll have some fun, then you can be on your way," he slurred. His voice was gravely and strained. He stepped toward me. The knife glinted at me violently. I wasn't going to take this crap! Stumbling forward, he reached for my arm with his free hand and stretched his knife out to my neck. As his knife made contact, I kneed him in the gut. He doubled over, and clenched his stomach. While he was down, I snapped my foot out and kicked him underneath the chin. His head snapped back. He landed on the ground with a thud. Fang's head popped up.

"What's going on?" he asked. Then he saw the drunk on the ground.

"Ah," he said. No explanation needed. I burst out laughing.

"What?" he asked.

"Well-" I choked out. "It's hard to take you seriously with that banana on his hat." I started laughing again. His hand shot up to his head as he pulled the old banana from his head. Then he threw it at me.

"Oh, no! You're asking for it, buddy!" I grinned. We then pelted each other with rotting food. I know. Dumpster food fight!

...

We walked in the door, smelling like rotten fish that baked in the Sahara Desert for three weeks. Let's just say, it was bad.

"Agh! Gazzy! What did you eat?!" Iggy yelled from the kitchen.

"It wasn't me!" Gazzy yelled back.

"I think it's Max and Fang," Angel stated.

"Ewwww! That is disgusting. Go take a shower!" Nudge called. And by the sound of it, she was plugging her nose. Was it really that bad? I smelled my hair and gagged. Yeah, it was bad. But then what she'd said registered in that thing called a brain. I looked at Fang and realized that he was looking at me too. How was this going to work?

...

My left hand was against the wall in the shower, and Fang's right hand was on the wall on the other side of the shower curtain. Fang had already had his shower. I had to help wash his hair, but he was clean. He might smell a little still. But he was clean.

Being so close to him was a little creepy when I was taking a shower. Wouldn't anyone think so? I was finish cleaning all the junk from my body, and I'd gotten all that I could from my hair, but I wasn't ready to get out yet.

The warm water massaged my aching muscles. It ran along my neck and down my back. It was relaxing.

"Ok. Hand me the towel," I told Fang. The towel was flung over the curtain. I caught it and wrapped it around me. One handed. And trust me, it was no easy task.

Opening the curtain, I saw that Fang had already gotten as dressed as possible without ruining another shirt. Meaning, he was wearing black jeans, but no shirt. And I have to say, he had muscles. He wasn't a bodybuilder type build. I mean, ew. But you could tell that he was athletic. I stepped out, careful no to slip and went over to the sink. Turning the water on, I ducked my head under. Fang wordlessly started to wash my hair. His hands were gentle as he rubbed my scalp. Fingers soft, he wash out all the muck that had gotten into my hair during our food fight. My heart squeezed. After he finished, I got dressed (no mirrors) and we walked down the hall into my room to go sleep.

* * *

**Me: ..*on the ground dying, reaching out to the Flock*...Done.**

**Angel: Don't be so dramatic. It only took you...what? A week?**

**Nudge: I only had one line!**

**Total: At least you were in it. *sniff***

**Me: I AM SO SORRY! TOTAL!**


	4. The Awkward Store DUN DUN DUUUN!

**Me: Ok. Time warp time. This is about five days later. They've pretty much searched all the alleys in those days. Now for buildings. I think you're going to like this one.**

**Angel: Oh! Good one, Fighter!**

**Gazzy: What? What?**

**Iggy: Is it dirty?!**

**Angel: Hehe...**

**Max: No, don't even DARE to say anything even REMOTELY entertaining!**

**Me: Then don't do anything even remotely entertaining.**

**Max: *killer death glare***

**Me and Angel: Hehehe...**

**Fang: ...**

**Me: NOW ON TO THE READING! (HA! I love that!) **

**I own nothing. Except my pure imagination. *smirk* Willy Wonka reference. **

* * *

Max POV

Days have gone by. We've stayed with the awkward one-sleeps-on-the-bed-the- other-on-the-floor routine. It's still not working out that well. And sadly, we've all pretty much gotten used to the new routine of being handcuffed together. We sat at the table waiting for Iggy to finish cooking breakfast. I could smell the delicious aroma as it floated through the door of the mystery room that no one allows me into, (AKA: The kitchen. I wonder why...) all the way to where we sat anxiously waiting for our food.

"Food, food, food. Food!" Total kept whining from his chair next to Angel. Yes, our dog sits at the table. But he eats with his face. Thumbs, anyone? It can be a bit gross sometimes, watching as his snout got cover in anything from spaghetti sauce and noodles, to waffle bits and syrup. And cleaning the slobber off of his plate when he's done is something that we give as punishment. If no one's in trouble...well, let's just say that it's a good thing we don't have neighbors. The argument can get pretty loud.

(In case you didn't know, Mom owns an old farmhouse. All but the actual farm part included. We even had our own little lake. More about that later.)

"Here comes the food!" Iggy called. Oh, my mouth was watering. It swear, I think I was drooling.

Iggy strode in dramatically, holding a tray of food in each hand. His eyes were closed and he wore a very smug smirk on his face. Wow, hooking up with Ella has boosted someone's self esteem (Iggy, if someone didn't catch my sarcastic remark). His smirk ticked me off. But he deserved to be happy, so I'd resist the temptation of smacking his overly-happy face. He swept up to the table and set the trays down easily, despite his blindness. How does he do that?

Then I saw it. The glorious French toast. Bread dipped in a mixture of beaten egg, milk, sugar and cinnamon is divine. Sent from Heaven. The other tray had scrambled eggs and mounds of juicy, mouth-watering bacon. I grabbed and handful of bacon, and two pieces of French toast. And to answer any question, yes. I made a French toast and bacon sandwich. I handed that one to Fang, then made another one for myself. Then while biting into it, I dragged Fang to the front door.

Nudge started talking then. "Where are you guys going? Can I go with you? I won't dumpster dive, but it would be fun to watch you guys get covered in crap. Well? Please? I won't bother you! Too much... Can we wait 'til I'm done eating? Cause I don't want to walk around with my breakf-" That's when I shut the door.

"Gazzy! Gross!" we heard as Total's muffled yell reached us. I walked down the starch white steps, still dragging Fang along behind me. While Mom was away, our lawn's gotten a bit overgrown, but I'll just have Gazzy do it. I headed off towards the mall. Best place to look first, right?

First store we see? Rue 21. We looked through clothing racks, behind the counter, in changing rooms, and everywhere we could think of. Fang even broke into the cash register while the clerk was off helping someone. No key.

Next store? One of those underwear shops. But, really? This was a disaster waiting to happen. Talk about awkward! I shook my head and started to walk in. I wouldn't put it past the kids to hide it in here, just to see my embarrassment. Fang hesitated at the door.

I looked at him and raised an eyebrow. I guess Mr. Emotionless was nervous about being in a underwear store with a girl. Figures.

"It's not like you can wait outside while I go inside," I reminded him. Sighing, he followed me in.

And a very plump lady, almost fat to be honest, ran past us, the stack of parachute-sized underwear tottering dangerously. Her heavy make-up (Blood red lipstick, horribly put-on bright pink blush, and sparkly silver eye shadow. Even I can tell how bad that looks. Time with Nudge does that to people.) I barely dodged a frilly pink pair that came flying at my face. This place was dangerous!

Fang and I decided to check the guy's section first. We walked in what I hope was a casual way towards the racks. When we got close enough, I dove into the nearest rack. To the average bystander, it looked like Fang had fallen and nearly cracked his head on the metal bar. And maybe the possible flash of my epic dive, but they would miss that if they blinked.

"Anything?" Fang asked.

"Nope," I replied. One down, about 99 to go. Not to mention the possibility that it was in the pocket of some purchased item of a different clothing store. This was so not going to be easy. And note to self: Never again hide in racks of underwear. Men's boxers slapping me in the face was not my idea of fun.

...

So we finished the male section. Now for the females'. But now Fang was going to hide. You know, 'cause it's the girls' section. And Fang is obviously not a girl, and therefore cannot be seen hanging around the female section. I felt really weird just standing in front of a bra rack doing nothing. The store clerk obviously saw me, and mistook my awkwardness for a not-quite-sure-what-I'm-looking-for type of look.

"Can I help you with something?" she asked. All I saw was cleavage from her really green, really deep V-neck , her jean miniskirt and long, dark red hair. I looked at her nametag and read it as _Lissa. _The light dusting of freckles across her nose stretched as she smiled widely at me, her teeth almost blinding in their whiteness.

She started circling me like a vulture, looking me up and down. Then she got a strange look in her eye.

"I know just what you need," she said. Grasping my free hand, she started dragging me towards the changing rooms. "We need to get you measured."

The handcuff was pulling on my wrist as Fang tried to stay hidden. Then he tumbled out. Lissa stared down at him, then up at me. A knowing look came onto her face.

Smiling wryly, she said, "Lost the key, huh?"

"Um, it was hidden," I told her.

"Friends pulled a prank?" she asked.

"You could say that."

Fang pulled himself up and dusted off his jeans.

She glanced at him then continued, "Well next time take the key inside your room next time and make sure to lock the door." Then I realized what she meant.

"Oh, gosh no! That's not what I meant at all!"

Her bright green eyes stared at me in confusion.

"Then what did you mean?" she asked.

"Our friends thought it would be funny to handcuff us together and hide the key somewhere in town. Nothing else." She still looked skeptical, but didn't say anything else. She even helped us look. While we were looking for the key by the sports bras, and Fang was still hiding, she glanced at me smirking.

"If you don't want him, I'll take him off your hands," she whispered. I am sure that she gladly would, but for some reason, that sentence that she just said really got on my nerves. In simpler words, she ticked me off. I wasn't going to let it show of course. Luckily, that was the last rack to look in. We were done in this store.

I pulled Fang up, and said, "That's it for today. We'll start again tomorrow."

Lissa stopped Fang at the door, her hands on his chest.

"I'll be here tomorrow if you need any help." she murmured. Then she whispered something into his ear. Something that I couldn't hear.

"I'll see you later," she said. To Fang, of course. She winked at him then walked away, hips swaying.

...

Fang POV

I can't stop thinking about what Lissa whispered to me. She'd said, "I'll be here when you get those cuffs off too. For some _alone time, _maybe?" I have to admit, she is attractive. There was something about her long, dark red hair...

...

Max POV (Again :D Fun, right?)

I slammed the door shut behind us.

"We're home!" I yelled.

We walked into Angel, the Gasman, Nudge, Iggy and Ella all laughing over something Angel had said.

"What did we miss?" I asked.

"Nothing, nothing." Iggy choked out. I guess Iggy had made milkshakes because Gazzy just spewed some all over the dining room in a new burst of laughter. I glared at them suspiciously.

Slowly turning towards Angel, I said, "What did you tell them?" My voice sounded dark and dangerous. I gave myself a pat on the back. Good job, Max. Turning my attention back to Angel, I repeated the question.

"Well," she said, "Only everything that happened at the mall. You know, _with Lissa _and your adventures in the underwear store." Gazzy snickered.

"I mean, wow, that seemed so embarrassing, but, like, at the same time, sorta fun! But I know I wouldn't want to hang around in an underwear rack. But did you see how that Lissa chick dressed? Ok, she's a little bit pretty, but she sure as heck knows it! She was totally drooling on the inside over Fang! But on the outside, she's like, too cool for normal people. We aren't normal exactly, but still. Anyone want ice cream? I mean, I just got an overwhelming urge to eat ice cream. Who needs healthy? We're naturally skinny after all, well, not naturally, but anyway, why not use that to eat a whole gallon of ice cream?" Nudge said. Really fast. Like, a 7.5 second speech.

I woke up from the hibernation-type state that I go into whenever Nudge starts talking.

"You done yet?" I asked.

"Define done-mmmftt."

Everyone (except Nudge) started cheering when Iggy put his hand over Nudges mouth.

"She's licking me!" Iggy laughed. Nudge should have known that wouldn't work on him.

Well, I guess this is my family. Gotta love 'em. Even when they handcuff you to your best friend. Who happens to be a boy. This train of thought is not helping my love for my family grow, if you know what I mean.

* * *

**Done? Sorry it took so long... D: I try. Next chapter coming soon! Hopefully. R&R. Peace out. Bro Fist. High-five. See ya. **

**Fly on,**

**Fighter**


	5. Enter: The Fish

**Me: Ok. New goal: 25 reviews for my story. You guys (and girls) can do that for me? Maybe? It might make me write faster... **

**Total: You obviously just want more reviews. Using bribery! Of all things!**

**Max: Well, whatever works. Just, no more painfully awkward scenes. Please.**

**Gazzy: HA! But they're funny!**

**Me: No promises, Max.**

**Angel: It wouldn't be a story without the painfully awkward scenes, now would it?**

**Me: I own nothing but the plot. Not even sure I own that anymore...**

**Everyone else: ...**

**Me: Just kidding! NOW ON TO THE READING!**

* * *

Max POV

We were all dressed for bed. But this one-on-the-bed-and-one-on-the-floor thing was so not working for me. He always either pulled me down to the ground at one in the morning, waking me up rudely, or I woke up in the morning with a wrenched neck. Very painful. I've had it with this. Warning: What I am about to do is highly uncomfortable, and all small children might want to avert their eyes. Do not do this at home, kids. I sat on the bed. Fang started to kneel down onto the floor, but before his knees even touched the carpet, I pulled him up and sat him on the bed. He looked at me questioningly.

"You're sleeping on the bed tonight." I cannot believe I just said that. I was mentally banging my head against the wall. Key word: Mentally.

But the look on his face was priceless. Well, not really on his face. More like, in his eyes. It consisted of pure shock, confusion, and the plain thought of _what the heck? _

"Um..." he replied. "You get the floor?"

"Heck no," I scoffed. "We'll share."

...

I woke up with a flash. And, no. It was not lightning.

_We sat on the bed. Fang still had the emotionless shock on his face. It wasn't that big of a deal. Was it? We slept in the same room for a long time just after we'd escaped from the School. Ok, we were kids. But still. _

_We laid down facing each other. Our connecting hands were beneath us, in the center. Our wings were spread out behind us, the covers pulled up around our shoulders. We laid there for what seemed like an eternity, just looking at each other. I never noticed the rim of chocolate brown that ringed around his seemingly darker-than-black eyes. His warm fingers grasped mine . His hand was so large compared to mine. I closed my eyes to blink and I guess I must have drifted off into sleep._

That was last night. Now back to this morning.

Where was I? Right. The flash of not lightning. My first thought was: Why am I so cold? My next thought: Flash? Wait for it...

Then it hit me. This was so obviously a camera. Why would cameras be going off this early in the morning? Give me a break! It's early, and I am still sleepy. Not a morning person, if you know what I mean. I cracked one eye open and saw Nudge standing over me, snapping picture after picture, from all different angles.

I finally realized why she was taking pictures, discovering why I was so cold too.

It must have been a well thought out plan on the kids' part. Gazzy was over in the corner with my blanket over his head, acting like a ghost. I could have handled the cold caused by that, but they'd turned the air conditioning on. Really high. It was about forty-seven degrees in here. So yeah, I was cold.

That was not a cause of picture taking though. The real embarrassing thing was how Fang and I escaped the worst of the icy air. Here's a picture: Fang and I were curled up together. His left arm was above my head, on the pillow. My right hand was up, connecting the Fang's left arm as it had been for about a week. Arms bent at about a sixty degree angle, my hands acted as my pillow. We'd curled up together to keep warm. And the kids' were exploiting it.

I jumped up, nearly breaking my wrist in the process, and yanked the camera from Nudge's hands. I was looking through the pictures, a horrified expression most likely consuming my features. I was about to hit the delete all button when Iggy's hand flashed out of nowhere and snatched the camera back. Darn. Then out loud I said many words than are similar to 'darn', but probably not to be said in front of children. But I said them anyway.

...

Let's just say that the events this morning put a damper on breakfast. I won't go too much into that, but there were a lot of glares and many awkward silences. But enough of that. It was time to continue our search. Next destination: Petsmart. Yes, the pet store. Yay. Animals. Whoo-hoo. Happy dance. Yeah, I think it's obvious that I don't care, but what if an animal ate it? Bad thought, Max. Bad thought.

But here's the real kicker: Everyone else wanted to come too. I couldn't say no to the Bambi eyes, my only weakness. And chocolate chip cookies. Well, those an-Ha! Like I'd just blab all my weaknesses. But seriously, the Bambi eyes were twisting my heart in strange ways. _Fight it Max, _I told myself. I fell victim anyway.

"Fine, you can come," I told them unwillingly. They cheered and I groaned inside. Fang and I exchanged an exasperated glanced. Then I remembered that morning. I turned away, a blush heating my face. I couldn't even look at Fang now, let alone hunt the city for a key. Why is this so difficult? Fang and I walked outside, leaving all the chaotic celebration inside. I stood there staring directly in front of me. I absolutely refused to look at him. I tried to think of anything but that morning, so naturally that memory shoved all else from my head until it was all that I could think about. I turned toward the house.

"You guys coming?" I yelled.

"Yeah!" the all replied. Then a stampede of Flock raced out to join us, nearly knocking us over.

We all snapped out our wings and took off (Ella wasn't coming with us). Fang's wings repeatedly brushed against mine, sending shivers up my spine. Weird. What's happening to me?

Well, we're off to see the wizard. Let's just hope it doesn't zap with it's wand. **(A/N: The wizard is the pet store. Just in case you were confused.)**

...

Total, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore. Everything, from pet food to actual pets, lined all of the walls and the many shelves in between. How much cat litter did one store need? There was a whole isle dedicated to the stuff! And the smell of animal was overwhelming.

"Ok, here's the plan. Fang and I look for the key. You guys go explore. Have fun. Don't burn the place down. I don't think Mom would appreciate the cost for damages," I told the Flock. Then I motioned them to go along their way. Iggy and Gazzy headed towards the lizards and fish. Nudge and Angel headed off towards the cute, furry creatures, like the hamsters. To be honest, the sight of all the cages made me uneasy. The younger kids didn't remember the School as much as we did. I could see Iggy's discomfort too. Fang and I went to go search for the key by the dog collars. It's amazing how many colors and styles there were. They had everything from fluffy, bright pink Chihuahuas-sized collars, to studded black collars for the toughest of Rottweiler's.

...

"There's nothing here!" I fumed. We'd searched the entire store. It wasn't a small store either. I kicked the wall in frustration. Something cracked, and it wasn't my foot. Luckily it wasn't a concrete wall. It could have been my toes that broke.

"Calm down," Fang said. "This won't find the key." He was right. I knew that. But this was all so frustrating. This was like finding a needle in the ocean. It was all I could do to not drown in the worries that surround me, like we were never going to find the key, or that the School would find us again. Thinking about those kinds of thing kept me up at night. It was suffocating. It might be a little dramatic, but it's how I feel. I looked up at the ceiling, gathering my composure.

"Max, look at me," Fang said. He put his hand underneath my chin, and lifted my face up towards his. "Calm down." I took deep breaths. I guess Fang has a calming affect on me, or something. Whatever it was, it worked.

"Better?" he asked. I nodded. "Ok then, let's go find the kids."

We turned around and nearly rammed into the girls. I stumbled a little, and was extremely glad to have Fang there to steady me. The girls looked at each other and seemed to have a silent conversation between them.

Then in unison they turned to us and said, "We want a bunny."

...

This was why Fang and I should have come alone. We were trying to explain to them the meaning of the word 'no' while we went to find the guys.

"No means no, Angel. Who would take care of it?"

"I would! I know it's a big responsibility, but they're so _cute! _I would feed him, and make sure he gets played with, and oh, Max, please?" Nudge piped up.

"How about this," I started. They looked up eagerly at me. "You can both get a pet rock."

Fang turned away so no one would see his smirk, but I knew it was there. As strange as it was, I could feel his smile.

Angel stared up at me wide eyed and said, "Rocks? What would we do with rocks?"

"Well," I said. "You could name them or draw faces on them. You could even take them on walks!" They didn't get a chance to answer because just then Gazzy spotted us. He elbowed Iggy in the ribs and whispered something him. To heck if I know what they were talking about. I was about to find out though. Iggy and the Gasman walked up to us.

"Max, can we get a pet piranha?" Gazzy asked. Say what, now? Where did that come from?

"Do they even sell piranhas here?" **(A/N: I have no idea if they really do, so I'm gonna act like they do sell flesh eating fish at your local petsmart.) **

"Yeah! They're really cool!"

First bunnies, now this? Was this some sort of mass conspiracy for us to get a pet, besides Total? He doesn't count as a pet. More like another brother. One without thumbs? But we didn't come here to get one pet, let alone two. Oh no, here comes Bambi. Shield your eyes! I glanced at Fang and mouthed, "Do something!" He looked at me as helplessly as one can when one doesn't show emotions. We were being bombarded by Bambi eyes.

"No means no!" I said. All I could think was, _why me? _Now watch as internal conflict starts a raging battle. "Fine, but only one."

...

We landed on the front lawn. They decided on the piranha. So now we have a carnivorous fish. Somehow Iggy had flown all the way home without dropping the fish or the fish bowl. "Quick, quick, give me the fish," Gazzy said. With the piranha, now named Sam, (I honestly don't know if it's a guy or a girl.) he raced inside to put it in it's bowl, along with all the rocks and colorful decorations that we'd bought. Thank you, Mom's credit card. Then the door slammed behind him.

Well, all's well that ends well, I suppose. I turned towards the door, glad that the day was finally over. We reached the door. Fang was about to open it. Then it happened. In my defense, I normally don't have to watch out for family members pushing me.

"Hey, Fang, look at this," I heard Iggy say. As Fang turned around, a hand, I suspect it to be Iggy's, pushed me forward.

I fell into a kiss.

* * *

**Me: Cliff hanger! So, do you people think Sam is a girl or a boy? Review your answer!**

**Total: More tricks to get reviews? Really Fighter, let it go.**

**Me: Oh, shut up Total. R&R, peoples! ROCK & ROLL!**

**Total: *facepaw***


	6. Monopoly and Friends

**Me: Thank you people of fanfiction! Within 24 hour of my update, my goal of 25 total reviews was surpassed! **

**Max: That's not a real big accomplishment. You already had 20, you only asked for 5 more.**

**Fang: She has a point.**

**Me: HE SPEAKS! **

**Fang: ...**

**Me: I guess not. Anyway, how about 42 total reviews now?**** I do not own ****Maximum Ride or Monopoly. If I got the rules wrong, please don't blame me... ****NOW ON TO THE READING!**

* * *

_Where we left off: "Hey, Fang, look at this," I heard Iggy say. As Fang turned around, a hand, I suspect it to be Iggy's, pushed me forward._

_I fell into a kiss._

Iggy was so totally dead. I felt Fang's lips pressed against mine. It was kind of weird to be honest, being smushed together because Iggy desided to pull a prank. But still, I have to say, it wasn't so bad. Where did that come from? No, Max. No. Why do I have to be such a girl, now, of all times? While kissing Fang. No, not a kiss, a prank that Iggy pulled. This all went through my head in about one second, give or take a few milliseconds. I pulled away fast, a blush slowly creeping up my face. Then I spun around to face Iggy. To hide my embarrasment, I let myself get angry. Real angry.

"Iggy, what the *beep* was that about?" That was censored for our young readers. I know, I'm such a good person. It wasn't censored while I said it, but you can use your imagination to fill in the blank.

"Well," he said impishly, a slightly evil grin on his face. "It was about time something interesting happened. I mean, you've been locked together for over a week."

Has it been that long? I guess it has, hasn't it?

"Interesting? My life has a heck of a lot more 'interesting' than I can handle already!" Running from a school that performs genetic testing on children takes it out of a person. Who knows when they'll send a new vicious creation to eat our faces. Or worse, take us back to the School. So, yeah, I've had enough interesting to last ten lifetimes.

"Come on, Max," Iggy replied. "Don't get your panties in a twist. It was just a little fun, don't take it so seriously. Unless you liked it?" He did a little dance with his eyebrows, which completely freaked me out.

"No!" I yelled. I yanked open the door open and stomped upstairs to my room, leaving all the laughter behind, while at the same time dragging Fang along with me. I never really gave him a chance to regain his footing.

"Slow down," he said. "It's not that big of a deal."

I knew he was right. It still bothered me though. I honestly don't know why.

...

Fang POV

I owe Iggy about three favors. Even if Max's reaction wasn't quite what I would've hoped, and even though it didn't last long, I've wanted to kiss Max for years. Lissa's pretty, and has perfect red hair, but Max is special. Seriously, thank you, Iggy! But I don't say anything out loud though. I did give him a look that said _Nice one bro. I owe you. _He must have sensed my appriciattive look, because he nodded that he understood before bursting out laughing as Max drags me up the stairs.

"Slow down," I said. "It's not that big of a deal." While on the inside I was saying something totally different. It was a huge deal. I actually kissed Max. I've been trying to work up the courage to do that for awhile.

She sighed and sat down on the top stair.

"You're right," she said. "It was nothing but a stupid prank." Ouch. That does so much my self-esteem.

Angel peeked her head around the corner.

"Is it safe to speak?" she asked me. I nodded at her.

Turning to Max, she said, "Max, can we play a game?" Max smiled at Angel.

"Sure, sweetie. What game do you want to play?"

She grinned. "I would say poker, but I always win. It's not fun that way. So, how about some monopoly?"

"Do we even have that?" I asked. Yes, I just said five words. It's a miracle.

...

Max POV

Apparently we did have monopoly. Angel found Imagine that. Now, how do you play? Instructions, instructions. Where the heck are the instructions? Great, I think the instructions got lost sometime in last hundred years. This game was old and abused. I held up the game board and it was tattered and worn, and nearly torn in half. What an old game. Ella and Iggy

"Wow," Ella exclaimed. "I haven't played this in forever!"

"I haven't played this ever!" I replied. "You know the rules?"

"Um...you pretty much try to make everyone else bankrupt. By, you know, monopolizing the city. So everyone starts out with a certain amount of money, then you take turns rolling the dice. You then land on a square. You can either buy it or not, but if someone else has already bought it, then you have to pay them whenever you land on it."

I think I understand. Maybe.

"I want to be the racecar!" Gazzy yelled. In my ear.

"Oh, can I be the shoe?" Nudge squealed. Again: in my ear.

"You can be whatever you want." I told them.

They picked their said game pieces. Angel chose the thimble. I don't know why...and Fang chose the hat. What the heck? Total picked the dog. Of course. Don't ask me how a dog is going to play a board game. I think we've established that Total is not a normal dog. Example: he can talk. I decided on the battleship. At least, I think it was a battleship. Iggy and Ella decided to go make out in some random tree somewhere. I think "going on a date" was how they put it. But we all knew what they meant.

We all got money, the kind of money that if it was real, we would be rich.

"Who goes first?" Angel asked.

"I think we roll the dice and whoever gets the highest number goes first." I said.

Each taking a turn, we rolled the dice. Total nudged the die onto his nose and flicked it upward. He landed a four. Angel got a five. Her face was triumphant as she passed the numbered cube to Gazzy. It was kind of adorable. Gazzy blew into his hand for luck before shaking the die. He dramatically opened his hands mid-shake and the die came flying out. He rolled a four, like Total did. His face at how close he was to beating Angel, yet failing miserably was priceless. He handed the die to me and I confidently rolled it one-handed. I got a one. A freaking one? Nudge and Fang got a six on their first role. Tie breaker time! Nudge glared at him, her eyes saying, _I WILL win. You just don't know it yet. _She got a two. Fang picked it up.

"Please roll a one, please roll a one," Nudge muttered. It was another six. What the heck? How?!

"Aw, I really wanted to go first! Oh well, I guess it doesn't matter that much. But how did Fang roll two sixes in a role? That was cool! Try it again, Fang," Nudge said. She looked at him eagerly. He sighed and picked up the cube. He tossed it up in the air and it came flying down a again. It spun around a few times before landing on a six. Was that even possible? He had to be cheating! Somehow or another...

"Wow, that was awesome!" Nudge exclaimed. "How does he do that?! I need to learn that trick! So I guess there's no doubt that Fang goes first. Darn. Can I go second?"

Then the order of players was decided. Fang would go first. No duh. Then Nudge, Angel Total and then Gazzy. I, being the only on with a number as low as one, got the pleasure of going last. Great.

...

We are now about ten minutes into the game. I owned some of the random spaces around the board, no plan what so ever. Except to buy anything worth buying. Anda little secret called buying at least one of each color. Total and Fang were competing to buy the blue and orange properties. Waste of time if you ask me. Nudge was empty of money already. You know, reckless spending, using the whole 'buy anything and everything you land on' strategy. Angel was saving her money for some selective purchasing. Gazzy was in jail after the first few roles. Come on, we all knew Gazzy would end up in jail. With all the bombs he makes, it had happen eventually. It was his 3rd turn since going to jail, and he either had to roll two of the same number, or pay a fifty dollar fine. In the fake monopoly money of course. He did his good-luck blow into his hands as he shook the dice.

"Come on, come on, come on," he muttered. He got a three and a four. Total, who's been acting as our banker, took the fifty dollar fine from Gazzy's reluctant hands. This was going to be fun. Maybe I could actually win... After all:

a) Angel was running out of good places to buy.

b) Nudge had already pretty much lost.

c) Gazzy lost valuable time while in jail.

d) Total was all strategy, no execution of plan.

Fang was the only thing between me, and awesomeness. Let the games begin.

...

Did you know that monopoly takes a long time? Well, it does. And Fang was slowly emptying my wallet of all the fake money because he owned almost everything on the board. Aside from everything I had. He never seemed to land on any of my land though. Everyone else was bankrupt. Probably manipulated by Fang into thinking that they had a change at all of winning, before he crushed their dreams. Not me though. I had a plan. I always have a plan. I was not going to lose. Ok, that was a lie. Yeah, I'm going to lose. I rolled the dice, praying to get a twelve. Anything less than that and I would land on one of Fang's squares of property. Suspense building with every second, I rolled the dice, still praying for a twelve. The first dice landed on a six. I might actually survive a little longer! I flung the second die onto the table...and got a one. I wrestled with the urge to flip the table as Fang took the last of my cash.

"I win," he smirked. I glared at him. He was way too happy about this.

"I'm going to bed," I mumbled. End of game.

* * *

**Sorry for the late update! School comes first, sadly.**

***Please review any ideas for a future chapter! I might use one...***

***Please review: is Sam a boy or a girl? IT'S A VOTE PEOPLE!***

**RESPONSES TO REVIEWS: **

**Wolf and MR Lover: I totally agree. No one would expect that.**

**MaximumAngel1: I picked the name of the piranha without even realizing that. Good eye.**

**gravitysabully: Iggy appreciates your enthusiasm. He says, "Heck yeah. Bro army unite! You watch Pewdiepie too?" **

**lilwritergirl52: Thank you for your laughter. It keeps me going.**

**hermionegranger026: I LOVE BUNNIES!**

**lolajam77: All in good time. Patience, young grasshopper.**

**bigbluesparklez: Haha...that would be funny! Your vote is now counted.**

**shiver282: Just did! :D**

**Pain-is-just-a-Message: Yes, yes...I know...**

**Sun Alice Auguste: I love your reaction to cliff hangers...**

**Flockleader42: I am seriously flattered. *modest mode activate* But I don't think it's the BEST story ever...my best story ever maybe...**

**That's all the chapter 5 reviews that I have right now, so future chapter 5 reviewers: Don't be offended that you're not here.**

**If you're still reading this, then high five!**


	7. Swimming with Sam

**Me: Wow, I love you reviewers so much! But what I don't get, is how I get lots of views, but only a few people review. Even if you don't like it, I don't mind reviews that say "I hated it. You suck." I like to know your opinion.**

**Total: You would so mind if a review said that you suck.**

**Gazzy: Don't lie, Fighter.**

**Me: Ok, I would wonder WHY I suck, but I would still read it and I still want to know your opinion.**

**Nudge: I would love to see your face if you got a hate review. It would be hilarious.**

**Me: Don't send a hate review just to see my reaction, please. That would be a little overboard. Anyway, let's try for 50 reviews now? Sorry if this is updated a little late, my internet's been going wacko. I own nothing. NOW ONTO THE READING!**

* * *

Max POV

A new day means new adventures, right? Wrong! Just kidding, the correct answer was 'right'. More adventures with Maximum and Friends. Sounds fun, right? Well, today actually was fun, but in a strange way. Mom's farmhouse has a lake nearby. Lake means swimming. Swimming means fun. Especially when handcuffed, by your family, to a member of the opposite sex. That's always fun. All sarcasm aside, I wasn't expecting it to be any fun at all, but I was pleasantly surprised. It was nice during most of it, but enough of my rambling. Let's start at the beginning, shall we?

The sun shone brightly onto my face. I was finally comfortable after over a week of awkward sleeping positions, and I didn't want to get up. It was nice and warm laying here next to Fang. Um, forget that I said that. I cracked open an eye and was greeted with blinding sunlight. The window blinds were open letting the morning rays inside. Groaning, I sat up and stretched. I was pulling Fang's arm up with mine. He blinked up at me sleepily and smiled a little. My heart stopped, then restarted in less than a second. Then there was some pain in my chest. It went away as fast as it came, and I was fine again. Strange, I know.

"Good morning," he whispered sleepily. His hair was tousled, but still looked fine. You could even say he looked kind of sexy. It was a bad thought about someone like a brother, but I guess it's because I'm a teenage girl, so let's just blame it on hormones. We were only awake for about ten seconds when Gazzy and Iggy came in, the others right behind them. Ella was there too. Half asleep, we sat on the edge of the bed to show that we were listening.

"Sam seems a little claustrophobic," Gazzy started, holding up the fish bowl to show us. Sam was swimming around in tight little circles around the bowl. It wasn't as big as a tank, but I'd thought that it was big enough for Sam to entertain himself. Herself?

"Ok, so what are we supposed to do about it?" I asked.

"Can we take him to the lake? We won't put him in, just show him around."

"So, Sam's a boy now? I thought she was a girl," Nudge commented.

Turning his attention toward Nudge, Gazzy said, "Who's ever heard of a girl piranha named Sam? Sam's a boy's name!"

"Actually, Sam can be used both as a boys' and girls' name," Ella pointed out. We all looked at Sam, swimming around in his bowl, completely oblivious to all of our confusion of it's gender. Even Iggy turned his head toward the bowl in Gazzy's hands. When the staring got uncomfortable, and the awkward silence became deafening, I cleared my throat. They all looked back towards me.

"You guys are free to go, but don't expect us to go with you."

Nudge looked at me in shock. "Max! It's summer! Normal kids are being let out of school for summer vacation. It's a beautiful day outside, we are going swimming, and you two are coming with us!" That's when I got it.

"So this was all a big way of asking us if we would go to the lake and swim with you?" I asked. Angel and Nudge exchanged a look. Then Angel looked at me and said, "Yeah, pretty much." That would have been good and fine, but there was the key to find...

"It's only for today, and technically, the lake is part of the area that it could have been hidden." Fang murmured into my ear. I still wasn't convinced, and he noticed. "We need a break from the hard searching." The tickle of his breath on my neck made my arm hair stand up. I did need a distraction, I decided. The heat must be getting to me.

"Fine," I said. "Be ready to go in five minutes." They scattered to their rooms to get their swimming suits on.

...

I had to say, it was perfect weather for swimming. A few scattered clouds decorated the sky, but they were the wispy kind that you could barely even notice. We landed nearby the water line. At least, most of us landed nearby. Gazzy did a dive-bomb into the deeper part of the lake. He created a splash so large that we were all soaked, even though we weren't that close to the water. Ella was being carried between Iggy and Nudge. She seemed to enjoy the way that the wind blew her hair around, and the feeling of complete freedom that comes with flying. We set down our towels and the sunscreen on the grass before Angel ran out to join Gazzy. Nudge put down Sam's bowl carefully. Yes, we actually did bring him/her. Now, as for swimwear, I honestly felt a little uncomfortable. Allow me to explain. I had to wear a tie-up bikini, because anything else wouldn't work with my ever-so-stylish metal bracelet. It would have been fine, except for the fact that I was connected to Fang, and couldn't put on a normal freaking t-shirt to cover up my business. Not only that, I kept thinking about what would happen if the handcuff rusted. The key might not fit anymore with the lock all rusty.

_Don't worry, Max. It shouldn't rust. The policeman said that it wouldn't when he gave it to me. _Angel told me mentally.

_Right. He 'gave' it to you. We need to have a talk about controlling people. _I replied.

She smiled at me sweetly, like an, well, like an angel. The little demon child...

Nudge had cannonballed into the lake and was in a splashing war with Gazzy. She was pushed with battered with wave after wave of water. I guess Gazzy won, because Nudge came up to us spitting out water. I went up to her to see if I could help. I barely had time to see her evil grin before she pulled Fang and me in. We went under the water, and came up coughing.

"Nudge," I sputtered. "You are d-dead as soon as I stop c-coughing." My lungs did not appreciate all the water the lake gave me to swallow. I coughed a few more times before I felt able to breath in actual air. Fang was shaking slightly next to me. I thought that he was coughing silently at first, but then I realized that he was laughing. Fang, who only seemed to smile, if anything, and rarely ever laughed, was laughing at my almost near death experience.

"Y-y-your face! Priceless," he managed to choke out. I pictured my look of _what the heck? _when Nudge grabbed my arm, and look of disgust when I spit water out from my lungs, and it was funny. Then I did the unthinkable: I started laughing too. We were just two weirdos laughing histerically while swimming in a lake. Completely normal. As though we'd planned it, we both tackled Nudge at the same time. I dunked her head under water a few times. That started the Great Splashing and Dunking Wars. Everyone was going at it, viciously showering the other with water. Fang turned away from me and flapped his ebony wings to send a tsunami my way. I gasped in air and pulled him under with me to avoid most of the wave. We looked at each other and he smiled at me. I got that strange pain in my chest again. I kicked up to the surface to escape it and saw Iggy fly Ella up a few feet above the lake and I watched as she cannonballed next to Gazzy. For a wingless person, she was quite a daredevil to make a jump like that. It was like bungee jumping without a rope, or skydiving without a parachute, but maybe not as extreme. In all honesty, I'm surprised that her bikini top stayed on during the impact. I looked around for everyone else. Nudge and Angel were racing each other around. I didn't see Gazzy. He had disappeared somewhere, but I was sure that he would be fine. He was probably trying to escape from Fang's merciless splashing. This was actually fun, My question is: How did I not notice Sam's empty bowl?

There was an obvious lack of piranha in the fish bowl. I didn't notice it until Fang became still. Well, even more still that normal. I looked up at him questioningly, and he motioned with his head towards the grass. I saw what he meant immediately. Sam wasn't there.

"Guys," I called to the Flock. "Get out of the lake." They all immediately flew up and hovered above the water's surface. Gazzy along with them. Where had he come from? No time to worry about that, I was too worried about a piranha biting my butt. We were trying to fly up out of the water, but it was hard because we were attached to each other and that made flying out of a lake somewhat difficult.

Then Fang yelled, "SON OF A-"

"Whoa, Fang, keep it PG," I interrupted.

"-BISCUT," he finished.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Sam...foot..."

"Sam bit your foot?" I asked. He bit his lip and nodded.

We managed to rise up enough for the others to come and help us. I looked down at Fang's feet. On the side of his right foot was Sam, who was clamped down onto it, and was hanging on by his teeth for dear life. It was almost comical except for the fact that thick, dark red blood was running down his foot and dripping into the lake. We flew down to the grass and Fang sat down. I kneeled down next to him and studied his foot. I grabbed the fish's lips (Do fish have lips?) Well, I grabbed the top and bottom of it's mouth and pried it open.

"Get the bowl," I said to no one in particular. Gazzy raced over to our stuff.

"Grab a towel or two while you're over there!" I called. He nodded and came back with the said items. I got Sam off of Fang and put him/her in the bowl. There was so much blood on Sam that the water in the bowl was turning pink. I used the towel to put pressure onto the bite. It seemed to take forever, but the bleeding finally stopped. I took the towel off to inspect his wound. It was a small circle of puncture marks. After all, Sam isn't that big. Actually, for a flesh-eating fish, Sam was pretty darn small. It wasn't even that deep of a bite. I don't even know how it bled so much for such a small injury. A small chunk of flesh may or may not have been missing, but he's had worse. I looked around and realized that everyone else had gone. What the heck? They'd taken Sam with them.

"We just gotta disinfect it and slap on a Band-Aid. You should be fine," I said. Fang flopped down to the ground.

"I don't trust Sam anymore. It's tasted my blood. I think it liked it," Fang said. I burst out laughing. That was unexpected. I laid down next to him clutching my sides in laughter. That bent Fang's arm at a strange angle, but he didn't seem to mind. We stared at the sky as star after star appeared in the darkening sky. I must have drifted off because the last thing that I remember is seeing the moon reflect it's pale light on the shimmering water. It was beautiful.

* * *

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**theAngeldevilchild: I don't think so...**

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***Any chapter ideas? I like to hear your thoughts...REVIEW! I want to get to the point to where I can't write a response to every single new review. And remember: If your review isn't up there, then I published this before you reviewed on the previous chapter.***


	8. Ice cream and Jealousy

**Me: I was told that it was unclear if they have wings or not. Yes, they have wings. It's just that they don't use them as they look for the key in public. If they seem too normal, then I apologize. I was also asked how Max and Fang use the toilet. Awkward question. The other looks away, they of course have to wipe one-handed, hands are washed and it is never spoken of again. Also: Sorry that I didn't add them putting on their swimming suits. I'll make sure to add them taking them off. (^_^) This is only my second story, so thank you for bearing with me as I try to improve.**

**(I own nothing but my laptop)**

Fang POV

I felt Max go limp, so I'm guessing that she fell asleep. I stood up. Bending down, I picked her up princess style. I've kind of always wanted to do that. I snapped out my wings and lifted into the air. Max's hair blew around, whipping across her face as I soared over to her second floor bedroom balcony. Her room had glass double doors that led to her own personal balcony. We all had one in case a quick getaway was needed. Luckily for me, a door was left ajar. Wait. Max never left the door open when we left. For safety reasons. And the risk of flying Erasers barging in. A cool breeze ran across my back, but it wasn't what made me shiver. I cautiously nudged the door open with my foot. Cringing as the door creaked, I stepped silently into the room. I noticed a note on the bed. I walked over towards it and set Max carefully on the bed. Picking up the paper, I looked at the small, loopy handwriting. It read, _Angel has the key. _Who the heck left this here? How did they get in? After all, there was a lock on the door. They probably pickBut now that I think of it, it made sense that Angel would have the key the whole time. She was clever enough to send us on a wild goose chase while whatever she was planning took place. What was she planning anyway? Grasping the note, I scanned the room. I grabbed a pair of my jeans that I spotted hiding underneath the bed. I hid the note in a pocket before putting the jeans back. I got into the bed. Falling asleep was difficult. Hiding the note was a reaction that I can't seem to explain, and I didn't even know if it was true.

...

Max POV

I woke up in my bed, snuggled up with Fang, not remembering how I got there. Then I realized that I was still in my bikini. In bed. With Fang. Wait for it...yeah. It was slow motion time.

"Gah!" I shouted, as I tumbled to the floor, you know, in slow motion. Fang was pulled across the bed, but he managed to stop himself before he fell on top of me.

"What's going on?" he asked. He looked really tired, almost like he didn't get much sleep last night. And, oh gosh, he was still in his swim shorts, without a shirt on, his muscles showing clearly. I'm not saying that it wasn't attractive, but I was freaking out from waking up pretty much half naked, next to a pretty much half naked guy.

"Put a shirt on!" I yelled at him.

"Well," he said calmly. "I can't reach my clothes when I'm in this position now, can I?" Realizing that he was right, I got up and we made our way to the pile of black clothes that Fang had brought into my room at the beginning of this 'arrangement' that we are currently in. Fang had a way to put a t-shirt on without ruining the shirt. You see, Nudge and Ella had cuffed him pretty loosely. Not quite loose enough for him to get out of it, but his cuff is a lot looser than mine. So, his trick was to put his attached arm through the bottom of the shirt and through the sleeve. He pulled the shirt underneath the handcuff and up his arm. Then all he had to do was put his other arm through his sleeve and his head through the head hole, and voilà! He put on a t-shirt without ruining it. It may be stretched out a little, but it worked better than what I normally did. I turned around so he could put some pants on. My hand was as close to my back as possible, so that I didn't accidentally touch his butt. I stared at the ceiling as Fang exchanged his swim trunks for boxers. Pretty much playing the think-of-anything-else-game, my mind went from butterflies, to piranhas, to lamps, etc.. You know, anything else than what was going on behind me. As he pulled up a pair of black skinny jeans, I finally relaxed my hand.

My turn. I opened my underwear drawer and retrieved all of what I needed to get dressed. I glanced back at Fang to make sure that he wasn't looking before slipping the bottoms of my swimming suit off. As quick as I could, I grabbed the pair of underwear and practically jumped into them. I pulled on a pair of old Levi's. It was a lot easier to untie the top then it was to tie them yesterday. I was very uncomfortable to stand therewith nothing on the top half of my body. There was a major problem. I couldn't get my bra on with only one hand. The only word I could think was something that starts with an 'f' and ends with a 'uck'. That's right. _Firetruck! Why the firetruck did I have to agree to go swimming? I can't put my firetruckin' bra on, _I kept complaining inside my head. I was going to have to use my other hand. The one that was attached to Fang's.

"Fang," I hissed.

"What?"

"I need to use my other hand for something. Try not to touch anything, ok?"

No answer.

"Ok?"

"Ok," he replied. I wrapped the bra around and hooked it. I loved how this bra's straps were hook-on as well. That made everything easier for me. When it was all finally hooked on, I tried Fang's shirt trick. Why not? It actually worked once I got my wings folded in tight enough for the shirt to go over. It was somewhat of a challenge, because whichever person handcuffed me wanted to make sure I couldn't get out. But at least we had clothes on now. We joined the Flock in the living room. Surprisingly, they were all mostly awake. Only Nudge and Iggy were out of it. They still were awake enough to tease us.

"What were you kids doing out so late last night?" Iggy asked us. Nudge raised an eyebrow smugly, but ruined it for herself by bursting out in a fit of giggles. We were never going to live this one down.

...

Fang POV

Gazzy was playing a very violent video game on the Xbox 360. I approved. Max was bantering back and forth with Nudge and Iggy. Ella just sat back and laughed at them. All was normal. Except for Angel. She had an odd look on her face as she looked at me. It was searching, calculating, questioning...

_Are you going to tell her? _Angel asked me, mind-to-mind. My mind drew a blank.

_Tell who? About what? _I replied.

_Tell Max about the note? _she said impatiently.

_I-I don't know. _I stuttered. If you can stutter mentally.

_Why not just tell her and get it over with? _she inquired.

_I'm not sure if we'll ever be this close again. Do you know who put it there? _I gave myself a high five for the change of topic.

_Yes. It was me. _She ended the conversation there, no matter how many times I asked her why she would leave that note. Angel just walked over to play the game with Gazzy. I guess blood and guts are popular for small children nowadays. I turned my attention back to Max and Iggy's banter.

"I'm just saying. No one heard you come home last night, and you magically appear the next morning. It sure sounds suspicious to me," Iggy was protesting.

"Max, let's just admit it," I said. Max looked at me with horror, and Iggy had a face of triumph. "We went to get ice cream without you guys," I finished. Iggy's triumph deflated quicker than a balloon that was let go before it was tied. Gazzy paused his video game and stared at us.

"What did you say? Ice cream? Without me?" he sounded slightly hurt, and I felt bad for that. I guess Max did too.

She said, "We were hungry. How about we all go out and some after lunch?"

"Forget lunch," Nudge piped in, "Let's go get some now!" By popular vote, it was decided that there was no time like the present to eat ice cream.

"Bring back some chocolate ice cream," Ella called. "And don't drop it!"

-TIME SKIP-

"Hello, welcome to Baskin Robbins," the guy behind the counter said. He had blond hair and perfectly tanned skin. He flashed perfectly whitened teeth in Max's direction. I read his nametag. _Dylan. _His looks were, by definition, perfect. At school, if we actually went there, he would be the popular jock, who's "dated" every single cheerleader at least once. And I don't mean the dinner-and-a-movie kind of date. Now Max seemed to have caught his eye. I didn't like the look that he was giving her. Dylan looked like he was undressing her with his eyes, and no one else seemed to notice. It ticked me off.

"...and another chocolate chip cookie dough one," Max was saying. "Make them all triple scoops." Dylan looked surprised.

"You sure guys can eat all of that?" he asked. Max grinned.

"You have no idea," she replied.

Chuckling softly, he said, "Whatever you say." One by one, he scooped up the ice cream flavors into the cones. Nudge got chocolate fudge, Iggy wanted to be surprised, so Max got him a really colorful sherbet. Gazzy received chocolate almond ice cream. Angel and I got handed chocolate chip cookie dough, and Max got plain vanilla. I have no idea why. We each had to hold our own while Dylan checked the price. It was a quite a bit of money, a lot more than normal people would spend getting ice cream. We were used to that. Max just handed over a credit card that Dr. Martinez had left for emergencies. I consider ice cream an emergency. As Dylan's hand touched hers, he smiled at her suggestively. Dylan was really starting to tick me off, and by the glance he directed at me, he knew it too. He wanted to see my reaction. He pressed a few buttons on the cash register. He handed the card back to Max, but before she could touch it, I grabbed it from Dylan's hand. Giving him a glare with all the hate and anger that I could muster, I started walking towards the door.

"Whoa, Fang! Slow down!" Max said. The kids joined us outside. I motioned for them to follow me. I walked until we were far enough away from civilization that we could fly. AS we flew home, I slowed down behind the others.

"What was wrong back there? That was a pretty abrupt exit," Max stated.

"I don't like Dylan," I said simply.

"Why not? He seemed like a nice guy to me." That got me angry.

"Nice? Well sure, if getting you pregnant then leaving because he doesn't want a kid is 'nice'." I growled.

"What the heck are you talking about? I'm not that dumb! I'm only fourteen! Or fifteen...either way!" she exclaimed. We were just hovering in the air now.

"Well he sure as heck seemed to have something else in mind when looking at you," I replied.

"Like Lissa did? From the way she was acting, she would have had you in a locked room in seconds if you weren't attached to me!" she shouted.

"I never once even considered her," I informed Max. She glared at me.

"Why not? You have some other big-chested, red-headed prostitute that you like better?" She was so frustrating! Why was she so blind? Iggy could see feelings than Max could. I was tired of pretending. If I kept going on like this, she might actually end up with Dylan or someone like him. As a reply to her question, I lifted her face up towards mine. Her eyes burned with rebellious fire. I always loved that fire. Dropping my ice cream, I leaned forward and felt her lips touch mine. I hope the ice cream landed on Dylan's head.

...

Max POV

I stiffened. What was he doing? I thought back to many of the moments since we were locked together. At least now most them made sense. That thought led me to all of the moments with him when my heart beat a little faster, or not at all. I suddenly remembered all the moments when my chest hurt when I looked at him. At the time, I could only think of one solution: Fang gave me heartburn. But now, I didn't know anymore. Had I just been falling in love with my best friend that whole time? Fang broke the kiss, and turned away from me sighing. On instinct, I grabbed his shoulder and spun him back in my direction. I kissed him back. This was a lot better than the kiss just a second ago, and especially better than the time that Iggy pushed me into him. This felt right.

* * *

**Me: No, this is not the last chapter. I'm not done with these two yet!**

**Max: Awwww...can't you leave well enough alone?**

**Me: NO! You haven't been unlocked yet!**

**Max: Good point.**

**Responses to reviews:**

**Wolf and MR Lover: Hahaha! :D He had no choice.**

**MaximumAngel1: You guessed it! I did decide to do that before your review though. Just saying but you win a pat on the back and a imaginary cookie for that :D**

**Pain-is-just-a-Message: Why, thank you! :3**

**hermionegranger026: See beginning of chapter.**

**midnight owl: Sam isn't big and scary, and Fang's bite wasn't as bad as the pictures that you saw, not by a long run. It was a love nip. Please don't blame for the nightmares...**


	9. Mom's Home, and So Are Chores!

**Me: Yay! Finally some real Fax! Sorry this took so long to update. Life and I were running this race, you see. I was way ahead and winning, but my opponent got faster. Life caught up to me. It's all I can do to keep up with it, and to not trip. The thing is, I'm clumsy (always have been) and I've been tripping a lot lately. So please, keep cheering me on, and one day, I'll make it to the finish line. Chapters might take longer to post, but it won't take a whole month this time. But enough seriousness, enjoy this long overdue chapter.**

**Angel: It took you long enough for the Fax though! It's been what, eight chapters?**

**Me: It's called story and character development.**

**Max: Yeah, yeah. Can we get these off now? *holds up handcuffs***

**Me: Nope. Not yet. You have many more trials, with and without the handcuffs.**

**Max: What more do we have to go through?!**

**Me: Hehehe... Oh, Max. (I own nothing)**

...

I broke away from Fang after a moment. He smiled at me at rested his forehead against mine.

"We should probably catch up to the others," I whispered regretfully. Fang and I couldn't stay in our little world forever. He grasped my handcuffed hand with his, and laced our fingers together. We started flying towards our house, Fang's strong wings beating in time with mine. Swooping in towards the roof, we were met with whistles and some cheering from our family members, informally adopted, and my biological family members. That's right. Mom's home. Landing on the grass, I let go of Fang's hand and run over to hug her. Poor Fang joged along behind me.

"You've been busy while I was gone," she said in amusement.

"More like everyone else made sure keep me occupied with one thing or another," I replied smiling.

"So, a piranha, huh?" she said knowingly. Right. I never told her about that. Oops.

"Uh... funny story. No, really. I should tell you about that sometime," I said. "Maybe over some cookies?" I added hopefully. She laughed.

"Maybe," she replies, as everyone else surrounded us. Angel must have told them. How else would the entire Flock know the event that, err, _occurred_ between Fang and me. Iggy came up to Fang, and pat him on the back.

"Good job, man," Iggy said seriously. "You got the girl in a very memorable way. You'll be telling the story of how you two found love to your future kids for years to come." I punched Iggy on the shoulder. Hard. I happened to be smiling in a very creepy, serial killer way. He couldn't see my face, but he could feel me radiating an _I'm-going-to-kill-you-later _kind of aura. He backed away a little and stood behind Fang.

"For some reason I feel safer over here," Iggy told me cheerily.

"Is that so?" I replied, putting as much dark, threatening type tone into my voice as I could. I noticed Nudge and Gazzy laughing so hard that they fell to the ground holding their sides, tears streaming down their faces. Angel's laughter was slightly more controlled. She was standing up while clutching her sides in laughter. Ella just laughed at her boyfriend's stupidity, and Mom was smiling ear to ear. I don't think that's exactly how a normal mom would react to her daughter being teased in the way that I was. She's so not a normal mom. That's why I love her. That, and cookies. And, you know, the fact that she's my mother.

"Ah, it's good to be home," she said, laughter clearly showing in her voice. I glanced at Fang to see how he was reacting to Iggy's jibes. Now get this: he was actually blushing. It was only a little bit, and I was probably the only one to notice. I've seen his face enough the last few weeks to be able to tell when there was a little more pinkish red color there than usual. He was trying not to look at me, pretty much looking everywhere else, not moving his head, but moving only his eyes. Great. So I had a blushing Fang to deal with along with Iggy's stupid jokes, half a Flock about to laugh themselves to death, and an explanation to Mom about Sam and not to mention telling her all about these last few weeks. While eating cookies. I think I'm hungry. Imagine that, after dropping my ice cream many feet to the ground. I could try to go find it, but it would be smushed and melted. Sigh.

My stomach growled.

"How about those cookies now?" I asked Mom.

...

The rich aroma of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies floated from the oven to the counter where Fang, Mom, and I pulled up chairs to sit on. I swear I was drooling. We'd sat and listened to Mom tell us about her trip. Apparently, when a horse breaks it's leg severe enough, my mother, being the caring veterinarian that she is, likes to stay a few days for observation. The horse, named Sugar (obviously a female), had broke her foreleg during a bad jump. She's a show horse, and her rider, Jessie, was taking her out for a practice run when things went sour. Sugar's broken leg was almost bad enough for surgery, and Jessie had called Mom in to come help. Now that Mom was confident that Sugar was healing properly, she was able to come home. Mom took the cookie pan out from the oven and set it on the counter. Putting the cookies onto a plate, she saw my glances and motioned that it was okay for me to eat them. I gladly picked up a few. Well, more like all of them. Don't judge. I just really like cookies.

"Save some for the rest of us," she said jokingly. "At least give one to Fang." I looked at all the cookies in my hand, about nine total. Grimacing, I handed Fang three of them and put two on the plate for Mom. Mom looked at the cookies in Fang's hands in surprise.

Turning towards him, she said, "Wow, Max must like you more than I thought." I blushed. This whole blushing thing was becoming a really bad habit. His hand grasped mine. I glanced down at our newly interlocking hands, and tightened my grasp for a second.

"Maybe," I replied.

She smiled. "Now tell me about what I missed while I was gone."

I proceeded to explain our adventure, starting with the ride to the mall on the day that this all began, and all the way up to today. I may have left out some of the more embarrassing moments with Fang and me getting dressed, but only the ones that any sane teenager wouldn't want their mother to know about. It took a long time to tell Mom everything that had happened. We had to pause for a lunch break right as we got to telling her about the pet shop, and how we got Sam. By the time she was all filled in, Iggy was ready to make dinner. He rubbed his hands together.

"I'll make burgers," he said. "We'll make this a barbeque night." Fang dragged me out of the kitchen so I couldn't ruin the food with my presence. He wouldn't normally be in such a desperate rush to get me away from anything cooking, but Fang does not mess around when it come to his meat. So we decided to take a quick flight to pass the time. With a running start, we launched into the air.

"Dr. Martinez said to be home before dinner starts, or you won't get anything to eat!" Nudge yelled after us. Flying in loops and twirls, we seemed to fly as one person. I guess you could say that we knew eachother so well that no words were needed. The feeling of the wind through my hair and the last light of day warming my face relaxed me, more than I had been in a long time. We mutely agreed to go back home based on the fact that we could smell the burgers cooking. Landing smoothly on the ground, we walked up to the door. I put my handcuffed hand on the doorknob to and turned it. Fang, probably on impulse, used his other hand to put my windblown hair behind my ear. I smiled up at him. I don't normally use terms such as 'cute', or 'sweet', and normally I would scowl at anyone trying to mess with my hair, but with Fang, it was different.

...

Sighing contently, I leaned back in my chair. Iggy never failed to please when it came to food. Don't ask me how the blind one can barbeque the perfect burger, but I think it has something to do with his heightened sense of smell. Being blind, his other senses had to work double-time to make up for not being able to see. Either that, or he's magical. I haven't ruled anything out for sure yet. Whatever it was, I was grateful. I could almost forgive him for his teasing earlier.

"Alright, everybody," Mom said. "I know I'm tired from my work, and from what Max told me, you've all had quite an adventurous time. I think it's time for bed." The younger kids trudged up to bed in disappointment. They were expecting to stay up later than their bedtime, but Mom was home now. I don't really enforce bedtime like Mom does.

"That goes for you older kid too," she said pointedly to Iggy, Fang and me. We went up to bed too.

I flopped onto the bed and sighed. I didn't feel like changing into pajamas. Fang sat on the edge of the bed next to me.

"What a day, huh?" I said quietly.

"Yeah, but you got to admit, it was a pretty good one," he replied.

"Tomorrow will even better," I yawned. He leaned down and kissed my forehead.

"Goodnight, Max." Fang murmured. I smiled to myself. I don't remember if I said goodnight back to Fang, but today tired me out more than I'd like to admit. I drifted into sleep within seconds.

...

I woke up before Fang did. Chuckling to myself, I turned to look at him. He was in the perfect position. This was my chance. I poked his face. His cheek, to be more exact. He shifted a bit, but didn't wake up, so I poked him again. I'm pretty sure that I was enjoying this a little too much, but it's amusing to poke a sleeping person. This was when his guard is lowered to most. Poke. Poke. Maybe a poke wasn't enough. What else would I do? I tweaked his nose, pushed it up to look like a pig's, and pinched it shut. He just started breathing through his mouth once I held it closed. Well, if he wanted to play it that way, I would have to play along. I put my lips up to his ear and whispered wake up to him. Nothing. He must be really tired too sleep through all of this. I said it louder. A little louder and I finally got a response.

"GAH!" he yelled and tumbled to the floor. I was pulled to the end of the bed, but just managed to catch myself before I fell. I teetered on the edge, but it was my suddenly uncontrollable laughter that sent me sprawling on top of Fang. He rubbed his head, somewhat dazed, before I felt the rumble of a chuckle in his chest.

"What was that for?" he asked.

"To wake you up," I replied. I pressed my lips against his for a small amount of time. You know, just to make sure he was awake.

"Good morning to you too," Fang said. Yeah, he was definitely awake now.

"What the plan for today?" I asked.

"Let's go on a date," he said mischievously.

...

Fang had Iggy pack a picnic fit for many normal people. In other words, perfect for us Avian-Americans. We could each plow through a large pizza by ourselves. Even Angel, the youngest of all of us could down a medium pizza and a hearty portion of a fudge brownie and still have room for something else.

Fang blindfolded me. Apparently, he wanted it to be a surprise. He held my hand to guide me as we walked to the picnic site. I know what you're thinking. Why do we have wings, yet walk to wherever our date is going to be? For one, I'm blindfolded and have no idea where we're going. Also, we might spill the food. You don't mess with our food. He squeezed my hand to signal that we'd arrived. I took off the blindfold. We stood in a field, grass surrounded us. I could see the glimmer of the lake a few yards away, our house just beyond that. I'd never really come this way before, whenever we went exploring, it was always in the woods on the other side of the house. Turning around, I saw a lone tree, an oak if I'm correct.

"This is where I come when I need to think," Fang said. I flew up to a high branch, Fang just a wing-beat behind. I landed and sat down.

"It's beautiful," I whispered. And it was. The view was incredible. A breeze tousled my hair. Fang handed me a sandwich.

"Enjoy," he said. And so I did. Even a sandwich made by Iggy was better than anything I could make. I still enjoyed it.

...

Fang POV

We sat in a comfortable silence as we finished up our food. That's one thing that I love about Max; she can handle silence without feeling the need to clutter the air with noisy chatter. Not many people could do that. Hearing a faint sound, I grabbed Max's hand and lifted into the air.

"I think I hear Dr. Martinez calling," I said. She tilted her head trying to hear.

"I think you're right," she replied. Flying towards the house, I saw Dr. M standing outside with a megaphone. She really is priceless. We landed in front of her.

"Oh, so you heard me. Great! Now, I know I've been gone, but now that I'm back, I have to be the mother and give you chores. You guys are on dishes duty." Darn. Oh, well. I guess we had been negligent about certain things. Max and I went inside to the kitchen. It honestly wasn't that bad, we just had to load the dishwasher and wash a few of the more fragile dishes. Max filled the sink with soapy water and started to wash, while I put everything into the dishwasher. I glanced over at Max. Moving quickly, I scooped up some soap bubbles.

"Hey, Max," I said. She turned towards me.

"Yeah?" she replied. I held my hand out and blew the bubbles at her face.

"Payback for this morning," I said, smirking. We were about to get into an all out soap war when Dr. M called.

"Max! Fang! I'm doing laundry, gather up all your dirty clothes!" On the way to Max's room, I grabbed a laundry basket form the laundry room. I held it while she piled the clothes in. I started heading towards the door.

"Wait," Max said. "There's a pair of your jeans under the bed." All I could think was, _Oh, no. The note! How could I forget about the note?! Oh, crap._

"Here," I said handing the basket to Max. "I'll get it."

"No, I got it," she replied, oblivious to my desperation. _Please don't check the pockets. Please don't check the pockets. _Of course, she checked the pockets. Dr. M told us to always check the pant's pockets before putting the pants in the wash. She held the note in her hand.

"What's this?" she asked.

_You should have told Max, Fang. You should have told her everything, _Angel whispered.


	10. Uncuffed but It's Not Over Yet

**Me: Now, it's time for the big question...**

**Nudge: Fang asking Max to marry her?!**

**Max: What?!**

**Me: No, the real question is...**

**Iggy: Wait, so Max proposes instead?**

**Me: No! Now wait for me to finish!**

**Gazzy: Waiting...**

**Me: What will Max do about the note? Will the handcuffs finally come off?**

**Max: Come ON, Fighter. Don't be so dramatic!**

**Me: Sorry, can't help it. It's just so much FUN!**

...

Max POV (of course)

There was a crumpled piece of paper in the pocket of a pair of jeans. No big deal. Quite common actually. I would have shrugged and thrown it into the trash bin with no second thoughts, but Fang obviously didn't want me to see what was on the paper. He might appear calm to anyone else, but I know him too well for that. Plus, I admit, the reaction that I saw from Fang, the sudden, yet subtle tensing of his shoulders, the barely noticeable quickening of his heartbeat, is what made me so curious. Keeping an eye on Fang, I started to open it up.

"Max, wait. Don't open that," Fang sounded nervous. He, of all people, should know that telling me not to do something will only make me want to do it more. He must have realized it too, because the next thing he said was, "I mean, it's just a scrap of paper that I found on the floor a few days ago and shoved into my pocket. It's nothing." Too late. He'd already piqued my interest. I opened it up a bit more. By now, Fang was lunging in slow motion to snatch the paper from my grasp. Laughing at him as I dodged, I got my first peek at the words. The laughter died in my throat as it registered in my brain what the message meant. _Angel has the key. _Many things ran through my mind: It would make sense for Angel to send us on a wild goose chase, but that doesn't explain the note. For it to be crumpled up means that someone had already read it. For it to be in a pair of Fang's pants suggests that it was him. But he would have told me. Right? If Fang knew where the key was, he would have told me. But he didn't. Fang...didn't tell me. How could he? I never thought I'd live to see the day that Fang kept such a huge secret from me. How long has he known? How long has he been lying?

"You knew?" I asked. "You knew and you didn't tell me."

"Max," he started. "I can explain." Then thoughts even worse filled my head. He's been lying to me. To me, keeping secrets is just as bad as lying, lying, and lying is a form of betrayal. Fang betrayed me. My eyes burn with held back tears. He betrayed my trust. I need to think. I want to be alone. I wish he'd get out of my room. I want him gone right now. I need to get rid of the handcuffs first.

_Angel, bring the key to my room. _I told her mentally. Sitting in silence, I waited. She didn't respond, but I knew that she'd heard me. Wordlessly, Angel enters the room. She take off a delicate chain around her neck that I never even knew was there. A small key dangled from it.

"You found it," she murmured as she handed over the key. Knowing that all hell was about to break loose, Angel bolted as soon as I had the key in my grasp. I shoved the key into the keyhole on my handcuff and twisted. There was a small click and the cuff popped open. I want him away from me.

"Max, I can explain," Fang said urgently.

I don't want to talk to him right now.

"You see, I-"

I need to be alone.

He needs to get

"...out." I whispered aloud.

"Max?" He asked.

"Get out," I whispered.

"What?" he asked.

"Get out," I said more forcefully. "Get out of my room." I was practically yelling at this point. I some place in the corner of my jumbled mind, I knew that I was overreacting. But at this exact moment, I didn't care.

"Max," Fang pleaded.

"Just go," I said dejectedly. I waited for the door to close behind him before I let the tears start. Slowly and silently they trailed down my cheeks as I stared at the ceiling, and, for the first time in a long time, let myself feel.

...

Iggy POV

Leaving the bathroom, I heard crying. It was soft, but just loud enough to be audible to my ears, because being blind heightens my other senses. I hadn't heard Max cry in... I don't even remember the last time I heard her cry. Somehow though, I knew it was her. So I set off to see what was wrong. Well, to hear what was wrong. Then I bumped into Fang. He was without Max attached to his wrist, so I knew something was up. Time to play detective.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"I made a mistake," Fang said.

**:Pause as Fang explains what happened in many more words than he normally speaks at any given time. Please enjoy the intermission as a break to eat a doughnut or something. Ok, now continue:**

I sat back and leaned on the wall in shock, tucking my wings in comfortably.

"Well. That escalated quickly," I said. "Dude, in all honesty, you're screwed."

Fang groaned. "That's what I didn't want to hear. Advice?" I guess it's now time to switch and play counselor. I thought for a second.

"Ehem," I cleared my throat. "Keep in mind, this is from a guys view, want better advice, then talk to a girl. Girls know girls better than anyone. The way I see it, she's overreacting and it might be that time of the month. Gotta watch out, girls are vicious during that time, so it's best to avoid all contact. Wait for five to seven days, then check in with her again."

"That did not help at all. You would make a crappy counselor." With that, he got up and walked away.

Well," I grumbled as I stood up and dusted off my pants. "He asked for my advise, and I gave it. Not my problem if he didn't like it." I walked back to my room, hesitating briefly as I passed Max's room. But I had to follow my own advice and leave her be for now.

...

Fang POV

I wandered around the house aimlessly for what seemed like hours before I found myself in the kitchen. Dr. Martinez was making dinner. I guess it was Iggy's night off. She glanced back at me. She took in the fact that Max wasn't with me, and her motherly-instincts-radar must have picked up an I-need-some-help-signal or something because she motioned for me to start chopping stuff for a salad.

"Talk when you're ready and I'll listen. There's no rush," she said. Awesome Mom skills right there. No pushing, no nagging, just reassurance and a listening ear. exactly what I need. She joined me in chopping, and for five minutes all that could be heard was the smack of knives against the cutting boards.

"I knew where to find the key, but I didn't tell her. I-I knew that it would come back to bite me in the butt, but I didn't tell her. I couldn't," I confessed.

"Why couldn't you?" she asked calmly.

"I knew that if I told her, we would go back to the way things were before. Just friends. I wanted to be more than that."

"So, you wanted so badly to be close to Max, that you risked her hating you for keeping secrets? Fang, as romantic as it sounds, risking it all to be with her, this is not some cheesy romance movie. This is real life. She's too upset for you to explain, and she won't forgive you unless she understands why you did what you did, and accepts your apology. Max may seem tough as nails, but under all that forefront, she is still a teenage girl. You have to treat her delicately sometimes. Wait until she's calmed down, then explain everything. I can't promise the outcome, but it's time to buck up, be a man, and take the consequences for your actions. Giving advice is all I can do, it's up to you now."

I was shocked. That lady's got wisdom. And experience. All I could say was:

"You've been working on that speech haven't you?"

She smiled. "I've been looking for a situation to use it in," she said with a hint of sarcasm. I laughed at that. Someone cleared their throat. I looked back and saw Max standing in the door frame. Not even glancing at me, she told Dr. Martinez that she was going out. I stared at the door mournfully as it closed behind her. I knew that she wasn't going to listen to me anytime soon, and it broke my overly romanticized heart.

...

Max POV

I walked into the kitchen to find Fang laughing with my mom. I don't know why, but it ticked me off. Not to mention it ruined my desire to talk to Mom about what had happened. So, now I fly around the sky with no set destination, just a crying heart and a need to get away from it all. I don't remember flying to iti, but I find myself in the same tree that Fang and I ate lunch in. How could so much change in only a few hours. I didn't want to hear excuses at this point. I just sat in the tree as the raw emotions of earlier came back in full force. Then I got a stereotypical urge to go get ice cream. Sadly, I gave into that urge. I could do with a triple chocolate fudge sundae. Extra large. With sprinkles. Can't forget the sprinkles. I flew and landed in an empty parking lot near the ice cream place. I walked in and Dylan was at the counter. Great, I probably looked like a tear streaked manic killer from some horror film. This has not been a kind day to me. Too late to be self-conscious, if I look like a psychotic killer, then he can deal with it. Not my problem.

"Hey, I remember you," he said. "You were with that Goth-looking guy, right?"

"Yeah," I muttered.

"Did something happen?" he asked, sounding genuinely concerned.

"You could say that," I said before giving him my order.

"Looks like you've been through the wringer. Here, this one's on me, free of charge." Well, that was nice of him.

"Thanks, I owe you one," I said. Then I made my way to the corner table to eat my feeling away. yeah, I know it doesn't work, but a girl's gotta try. Dylan slid into the chair in front of me.

"I'm on my break," he replied to my questioning look. Putting his hand on mine, he looked at my seriously. "If you need to talk, I'm here." He actually looked like he cared about my feeling. Unlike Fang when he-

"I'm just trying to forget everything for a moment. Forget the world, and have a little peace," I murmured.

"I get off work in about fifteen minutes if you want some company while you forget the world," he suggested. Somehow, I had a feeling that I could forget about Fang when I was with Dylan.

"I'd like that," I replied with a small smile. In my effort to forget Fang, I forgot all of his warnings about Dylan and the type of person he is.

**:Max eats ice cream while Dylan finishes up work, therefore I shall time skip to when they leave the ice cream shop:**

It was about six o'clock when we left the shop. Dylan suggested a movie, so upon mutual agreement we went to a comedy. I think it was Dylan's way to get me to laugh after all the crap that happened today. I was still laughing when we walked out the theatre doors. The sun had already set, so Dylan offered to drive me home.

"No, I'm ok," I insisted. "I can get home myself."

"You don't have a car, do you?"

"Well, no, but-"

"I'm not going to let you walk home in the dark," he said sternly. I couldn't say no now, he didn't know I could fly.

"F-fine," I said, giving up. I gave him instructions, then sat back and listened to the radio. It was on a really good Alternative Rock station. Before I knew it, we were parked in front of Mom's house.

"Thanks for the ride," I said. "Thanks for everything."

"Don't mention it," he replied with a slanted smile. I waved as he pulled away and walked up to the door, not yet ready to face reality, but still wanting to punch it in the face.

...

**Me: That was intense to write. Seriously, I think I just lost a few pounds in sweat. I took a big risk in that chapter, either you guys love it, or you hate it. But rest assured, it will not be a Mylan (or a Dax, depending on your view). Or will it? DUN DUN DUN DUUUUN. Just kidding. But seriously, I know Max was the teeniest bit overdramatic, I mean, I'm a girl, and I think she overreacted. But I made a choice as the author and I'm going to stick with it. What good is a story without a PLOT TWIST! Right?**

**Anyway, who agrees that Max shouldn't have gotten in the car with a strange boy who seems too nice to really be nice? If that makes sense. I think I'm rambling. Am I rambling?**

**Angel: Yes, you really are.**

**Me: I'll shut up now.**

**Max: That'd be the day...**

**Me: HEY! More to come, so stay tuned for the next chapter!**


End file.
